“They are a pathetic sight. Where
there should be ivory-white feathers, there are spiky
quills and tattered grey coats. The birds in the lower
tiers are caked with feces from the cages above. Below
the towers of cages, a displaced hen squats helplessly
on a manure pile. Another lies dead in the aisle.
Everything is cloaked in filth.” A detailed
article in The Aquarian includes this description
of “The
Truth About Canada's Egg Industry," documentary
footage, edited by the Canadian Coalition for Farm
Animals (CCFA) and the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS),
of a commercial egg production facility in Guelph,
Ontario. “This is a life sentence with no parole,"
the video opines. "Their only escape is slaughter.”

Lloyd Weber, owner of the facility, is a veterinarian
and a member of the Dean's Veterinary Advisory Council
of the University of Guelph, one of Canada's leading
agricultural colleges. Prior to the expose, LEL Farms
had been a tour site for agriculture students. Weber
claims the operation adheres to the Canadian Agri-food
Research Council’s Recommended Codes of Practice,
the closest thing the country has to laws governing
how farmed animals should be treated. The Council
is funded by government and industry, and comprised
mostly of members of the regulated industries (50%),
government and academia.

Among other things, the Code accepts battery cages
and partial beak removal. The article discusses the
Code's inadequacies, problems with battery cages and
the fate of chicks and hens. Author Syd Baumel met
a dead-end when trying to ascertain information about
the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency's voluntary Animal
Care Certification Program. The Program provides the
public with 3 annual opportunities to view caged hens
and hear from egg farmers about husbandry practices.

Efforts by CCFA and VHS to improve conditions for
hens are listed, and the meanings behind egg labels
are explained. The article concludes: “Arguably,
the only truly humane eggs come from backyard flocks
or sanctuaries where the birds, like companion animals,
are treated kindly all their natural lives.”

Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed into law new rules that give the state the
most strict ocean
fish-farming regulations in the country. The aim
of the legislation is to reduce pollution and harm
to marine wildlife from giant floating pens of freshwater
fish that could result from the spread of the aquaculture
industry along the state’s coast. Sponsored
by Ocean Conservancy and other environmental groups,
the bill was passed along party lines.

Meanwhile, Louisiana is dealing with its own fishing
issues. This summer, the industry expects a “dead
zone” of empty, low-oxygen water about the size
of Connecticut to form off the state’s coast
due to pollutants that spark massive oxygen-depleting
algae blooms. Voluntary incentives to stop pollution
have failed to cut back on fertilizers carried by
rivers from farms upstream, 80% of which an Environmental
Working Group study has shown come from a small number
of Midwest agricultural counties which are heavily
subsidized by the federal government to grow crops.
A multi-state compact was signed five years ago to
control the annual dead zone problem, but officials
and scientists agree it has only been getting worse.

On May 8, the federal Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) released its National Strategy
for Agriculture. The agency says it considers agriculture
to be “a producer of solutions to environmental
problems.” A primary goal of the National Strategy
is to increase EPA employee awareness of how their
actions affect agriculture, as well as how “farming
benefits human health and the environment.”

Three bills signed into law by the governor
of Oklahoma may ease restrictions for pig producers.
One addresses permitting steps for new or expanding
swine-finishing operations once the state has reviewed
their applications. Under this bill, opposing individuals
must state the specific issue to which they object.
The other two bills redefine the definition of a manure
spill or discharge and address testing restrictions
of dry monitoring wells.

Animal bills presented during the Tennessee
General Assembly session did not fare as well. Legislation
that failed included a measure to guard against mad
cow disease by banning all feed containing meal made
from cattle or other ruminant animals, and a measure
to make Tennessee the first state to ban the sale
of chickens who have been fed arsenic. Another bill
not adopted by the Assembly would have closed off
public access to the state’s agricultural testing
records.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has
asked New York Gov. George Pataki to retract a $42,000
grant to Hudson Valley Foie Gras farm and investigate
the operation for violations of state animal cruelty
laws. The HSUS also threatened to sue the state for
funding an illegal activity. The state development
agency that issued the grant contends that the farm
complies with all state laws. The money will help
the farm increase its output to process over 300,000
ducks annually.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture
will soon elaborate its plan for a National Animal
Identification System. This announcement was made
after the U.S. House of Representatives, through its
agriculture appropriations bill, demanded the agency
to put the plan in writing and seek public comment
before funds are released on Oct. 1. The current goal
is to implement a “premise ID” by next
year and be able to track animals by 2009. Congress
has already provided almost $85 million for the identification
system and has allocated another $33 million to be
released when the issue is resolved.

The U.S. Animal Identification Organization estimates
it will cost 30 cents to track an animal during his
or her lifetime. The system could be a promising safeguard
against diseased animals in the food supply (and could
boost exports to Asian countries). While some hope
it will make consumers more comfortable knowing animals
can be tracked, some fear it is too expensive, would
harm property rights and be a technological mess.
A web
site has been launched in opposition to the plan.
Although the USDA has decided in recent months to
rely on voluntary compliance and let private databases
track farmed animals’ whereabouts, it has the
power to require participation. Australia already
has a mandatory animal ID system in place. An industry
commentary critical of U.S. resistance to a national
animal ID program can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/o3muv

Benchmark wholesale prices for chicken
are down 20% from a year ago, and beef and pork prices
are down over 8%, reports the Livestock Marketing
Information Center. As the Atkins diet loses popularity
and people seek out more balanced diets, meat eating
has gone into decline—despite raised production
rates in 2004 and 2005. Export problems for chicken
and beef have added to the problem. Long-term, however,
the USDA projects a steady rise in meat consumption
with a lowered price.

Still, meat-free diets are becoming
more prevalent around the world. About 3% of the U.S.
population eats no flesh of any kind (up from 1% in
1997), including 10% of 25- to 34-year-olds, according
to the Vegetarian Resource Group. A poll taken in
2000 found more than 1.7 million vegans in the U.S.
The market for animal-product replacement foods is
estimated at $2.8 billion, according to research consumer
company Mintel International Group, Ltd. A food industry
publication examines the reasons why people opt for
a meat-free diet (see source below). In Beijing, numerous
restaurants have begun catering to vegetarians in
response to the rising popularity of the diet in China.
Body-conscious white-collar workers and the growing
number of Chinese suffering from excess weight and
hypertension are especially interested in it.